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Anderson Cowan
Anderson Cowan (born May 11, 1973) is a radio engineer working for KROQ-FM in Los Angeles, CA, and was the main board engineer for Loveline since June 21, 1999 until its conclusion on April 28, 2016. Much more than a simple technician, Cowan is a colorful character in his own right, and sometimes chimed in on-air with his own commentary or expressed his opinion via audio drops. He was described as having an acerbic wit and a sometimes dark sense of humor. Besides Loveline, he hosts several podcasts such as ''The After Disaster'', The Film Vault, and CinemAddicts. He also makes films under his company "Cold Cockle Productions." Loveline Career Adam Carolla Era During his early years when Adam Carolla was the host, he spoke on-air very little, but was known for his impressive speed and timing at playing audio drops. Adam would sometimes test him by telling random anecdotes, with Anderson dropping in appropriate sound effects right on cue, without any sort of prep. Despite this admiration, there were hints the two did not get along on Loveline. Not sharing Adam's opinions, the engineer would often play audio drops aimed to annoy Adam, including "whatever," "shut up," sighing and yawning. When Anderson would speak, Adam would frequently berate him, which lead to a known audio drop of "Shut up Anderson! Just shut up and do buttons, will you please?!" After a guest show with Carolla one year after his 2005 departure, Cowan described him as "abusive." Stryker Era During the co-hostless time before Stryker joined the show, Anderson began to speak more on-air, particularly when Dr. Drew was alone with no guest. Much of his personality began to show during this time and he openly began expressing his opinions. When Stryker officially became co-host, he continued this practice. A recurring "bit" between Stryker and Anderson were various jokes about Stryker being homosexual and/or sexually attracted to Dr. Drew. Often this took the form of audio Drops of Stryker reading a call description or commenting on a caller's problem in the first-person, which were played out of context with humorous results. Stryker would act very upset or offended when this would happen and frantically deny being gay, but it's unclear he was truly being antagonized or simply playing along for comedic effect. Shortly after Stryker's famous unintentional "outting" of Lindsey Lohan (by asking her how long she and his long-time friend and mentor DJ Samantha Ronson had been "together"), he was talking about the incident when Anderson began dropping in recordings of Drew saying "You're a lesbian." Stryker, who'd gotten some backlash over the incident, angrily shouted "ANDERSON!" and warned him if he didn't stop it, Stryker would come in and break his sound-machine. Anderson, being Anderson, could not help himself, and played one last drop of Drew saying "You're a lesbian!" Stryker immediately then ran out of the studio into Anderson's booth, but not knowing how the machine worked, just smashed the keyboard. They later made amends over this confrontation and Anderson admitted he'd gone a little too far. On the December 9, 2008 show (Seth MacFarlane was the guest), Anderson goes on mic and states that, approximately 6 months prior, he received an envelope addressed to Seth in his mailbox. That night, when he gave the envelope to Seth, Anderson learns that he used to live in the exact same unit that Seth lived in years earlier. Psycho Mike Era When Psycho Mike joined the cast in early 2010, Anderson initially tried a similar bit as he had with Stryker. However unlike Stryker, Mike was completely unfazed by such remarks and almost seemed to be encouraging it. Naturally, this led to Anderson dropping that schtick very quickly. Anderson has said on the After Disaster that he has great respect for Mike, and there relationship is very good off the air. On air they usually get along, with Anderson often heard laughing at Mike's witty references, but they occasionally argue over content, with Mike being rather stubborn or even rude, such implying he is Anderson's "boss." For example, they had a brief disagreement over playing the ding sound when a caller said "basically," with Mike being very insistent about keeping the bit going while Anderson found it tiresome, unfunny and detracted from his ability to keep operating the board (the latter everyone generally agreed with). Eventually Anderson sorted things out by buying Mike a small desk bell to keep by his microphone so that Mike himself could be responsible for the bit. After Mike's departure from the show in March 2016, Anderson admitted Mike's increasing self-importance and disregard for anyone else's feelings had really started to grate on him, and while he was sad to see him go, it might have been for the best. Behind the Mic While often acting a bit curmudgeonly or even misanthropic at times on the air, this is not necessarily how he is in person. He has hidden softer side which often surprises people. Joining him every night in the studio is his dog Stanley, a Jack Russell/chihuahua mix. He has mentioned he considers himself very fortunate to work at a job where he is allowed to have his dog with him. Stanley's name itself is an allusion to two of his other great interests: hockey (Stanley Cup) and cinema (Stanley Kubrick). He's expressed fondness for animals and is often offended when a caller alludes to harming an animal (especially dogs), and once spoke of how emotionally upset he was after he accidentally killed a bird while golfing. He also has had jobs in the past caring for mentally disabled people, and once a year he leaves Loveline to work as a counselor at Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times, a summer camp for children with cancer. He has many tattoos, one of which is a film strip encircling his arm. In his earlier Loveline days he occasionally would dye his hair odd colors. Very little was ever mentioned of his background until he started doing podcasts like Film Vault and The After Disaster. His mother was a nurse who often worked night shifts, and Anderson has said she suffered from social anxiety most of her life. His father, Donald Francis Cowan, was a psychologist specializing in the treatment of phobias, but it's been stated he was physically abusive, paranoid, and had severe anger issues; he eventually developed an unknown type of dementia, and died July 24, 2015. Anderson is the eldest child of four, three of whom have names that start with "A." He has a younger brother Brett, and sisters Ashley and Alisha, the latter of whom is 10 years younger than him. Anderson's stories of his young adult life are filled with various antics including some recreational drug use, an impressive array of pranks, a few unfortunate fist fights, and on one occasion, jail time. He has yet to elaborate how he became a radio engineer and got the job at Loveline.Expand Anderson married his wife Gillian in October 13, 2012. In March 2016, he announced on The After Disaster that he and Gillian are expecting their first child. His son, Atticus Hibert Cowan, was born on October 17, 2016. Trivia *Does a condescending "sniff" after making certain statements. Often done sarcastically rather than actually being condescending. He claims to have stolen this quirk from a famous broadcaster that was a jerk to him. *Likes to pronounce "program" as a "prr-grum," often with exaggerated effort as though doing a Valsalva maneuver. *Has one of the most evil-sounding laughs in radio history (except maybe Vincent Price). *After a very unsettling story he told about an ex, Dr. Drew stammered "You're...you're evil!" *Has smoked crack, meth, and several other drugs. *Was called "Beauty" in high school for his good looks and long blond hair. *Has some metal hardware in his back due to injuries. *Originally wanted to be a marine biologist. *He occasionally reads this wiki! External Links Anderson's Personal Website - AndersonCowan.com Anderson's Twitter Account The After Disaster The Film Vault - Hosted by Anderson and Bald Bryan